Shadowfell Keep
Shadowfell Keep is located just to the north and east of the town of Winterhaven. The Origins of Shadowfell Keep The keep was originally constructed by the ancient Netheril Empire though its true purpose had remained unknown until relatively recently. Sometime late in the Age of Discovery, around 100 years ago, A Knight by the name of Sir Keegan discovered the keep and was able to piece together the keep's true purpose. The boundaries between the planes are not fixed entities. They wax and wane and may be stronger in some areas than in others. One such other plane is the Shadowfell, a forbidding plane home to unliving and other godforsaken horrors and the keep had been constructed on a site where the boundary between the Shadowfell and the prime material plane was particularly weak. Unfortunately, in the chaos that consumed the part of the world that would become the Realm following the collapse of the Netheril Empire, the keep had been reduced to nothing more than an empty shell and a shadow of its former glory. However, Sir Keegan was able to discover enough information to realise the importance of the keep and took it upon himself to rebuild and restore it and garrison it with members of his order. The Fall of Sir Keegan The true story of Sir Keegan is known to only a few scholars, Valthrun of Winterhaven amongst them. While many believe that the keep was overcome by an ancient curse the truth is far more tragic. Deep underground at the heart of the dungeons that lie below the keep lay the shadow rift. It was sealed at the time that Sir Keegan and his order re-inhabited the keep and their goal was to ensure that it remained so and could not fall into the hands of evil doers. However, while the rift was sealed the barrier between the planes was sufficiently weak to allow the corrupting, pervasive influence of the malevolent beings behind it to seep through. Over many years they slowly poisoned the mind of Sir Keegan, chipping away at his resolve and finally driving him insane. So it was, on a dark and terrible night that he systematically began to slaughter all those within the keep. He started with his wife and children and then moved on to his closest advisors. Many were killed before they knew what was happening or could raise the alarm. Eventually however, an effective defence was rallied and while Sir Keegan was far too skilled a warrior for the remaining defenders to defeat, they managed to seriously injure him. After this, he fled into the bowels of the keep where his senses slowly returned. Overcome with Anguish at what he had done, he sealed himself inside a secret crypt and drank poison, his spirit left to linger in undeath. Shadowfell Keep in recent times After the events of that night, the remaining knights and paladins abandoned the keep and over the following century it was left to ruin and decay, an earthquake causing the upper levels to collapse. Rumours and legends of the fate of the paladins, exaggerated by the passage of time, as well as all manner of other tales have been told about the keep to the extent that none would go near. The fact that those few who did were rarely heard from again served only to feed the idea that the legends were true. Very recently, Kalarel, a priest of Orcus, took over the ruins of the keep with the plan of re-opening the shadow rift. He was eventually defeated by the Crimson Company and the partially opened rift closed - for further details see Keep on the Shadowfell. During the Murder in Modan advanture, Duke Rygal gave the Crimson Company permission to rebuild Shadowfell Keep.